Healthy Media for Youth Act

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Healthy Media for Youth Act

• Legislative Advocacy
• Lisa Beth Kurz, MD

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The bill H.R. 4925

• Introduced 3/24/10 - Healthy Media for Youth Act
• Directs the Secretary of Health and Human
  Services (HHS) to award grants to nonprofit
  organizations to provide for the establishment,
  operation, coordination, and evaluation of
  programs to
• Increase the media literacy of girls and boys
• Support the empowerment of girls and boys in a
  variety of ways
• Permits giving priority grant applicants
  providing for non-federal matching funds.
• Directs the Secretary, acting through the CDC and
  NIH, and in coordination with the Director of
  the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of
  Child Health and Human Development, to review,
  synthesize, and conduct or support research on
  the depictions of girls and women in the media on
  psychological, sexual, physical, and
  interpersonal development of youth.
• Directs the Federal Communications Commission
  (FCC) to convene a task force, to be known as the
  National Task Force on Girls and Women in the
  Media, to develop voluntary steps and goals for
  promoting healthy and positive depictions of
  girls and women in the media for the benefit of
  all youth
• Referred 3/24/10 - The bill was referred to the
  House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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Why is this so important?

• According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Study,
  Generation M2 Media in Lives of 8- to
  18-Year-Olds (2010), most 8- to 18-year-olds
  spend about 7-10 hours a day using just
  recreational media.

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• What percentage of girls report being
  dissatisfied with their bodies?
• 15
• 30
• 65
• 85

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• Girls feel pressure from mainstream media to have
  the ideal body type causing only 34 to be
  satisfied with their bodies. (Girl Scout Research
  Insitutes, The New Normal, What Girls Say About
  Healthy Living (2006)).
• This dissatisfaction increases risk for
  disordered eating, depressed mood, and low
  self-esteem
• Up to 10 of girls suffer from disordered eating

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Defining normal

• A girls definition of normal varies based on
  age, race, household income, peer group, adult
  role models, and self-perception
• African American and Latina girls are more
  satisfied with their bodies, but are also more
  overweight
• White and asian girls have lower obesity rates,
  but less satisfied body perception
• Older girls are more satisfied with their body
  image than younger girls

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Self-evaluation
Girl Scouts Beauty Redefined slide
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• 60 of girls compare their bodies to fashion
  models and 90 say the fashion industry places a
  lot of pressure on girls to be thin
• The Girl Scout research finds that this body
  dissatisfaction leads to unhealthy eating/dieting
  habits with over half of the girls (55)
  admitting to diet to lose weight
• Even 3rd - 5th graders worry about their
  appearance (54) and specifically their weight
  (37). (The Supergirl dilemmaGirls grapple with
  the Mounting Pressure of Expectations (2006)).

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• What percentage of overweight girls believe they
  are of normal weight?
• 25
• 45
• 10
• 33

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At Odds with Reality

• As many as 1/3 of girls age 8-17 have a distorted
  perception of their weight
• 45 who are overweight by BMI
• believe they are normal weight
• 14 of normal weight think they
• are overweight
• 30 of normal weight girls age 16-17
• are trying to lose weight

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Stress due to body image

• Girls worry more than boys especially about
  appearance
• Being teased and made fun of is one of the top
  worries for girls, especially if overweight
• More than 1/3 of girls age 11-17 report eating
  more when stressed out

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Physical activity

• Physical activity is positively correlated to
  self-esteem regardless of a girls weight
• 83 of very active girls report physical
  activity making them feel good about themselves
• Many girls do not participate in sports
• 40 do not feel competent
• 23 do not like the way they look

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Influence of Fashion

• 73 of girls with negative body image wish they
  were as skinny as the models (compared to 40
  with positive body image)
• Girls with neg. body images
• More likely to starve/refuse to eat (50 vs. 25)
• Vomit after eating (18 vs. 10)
• 19 have taken appetite suppressants
• 15 have taken a laxative

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What can fashion industry change?

• Real models
• 81 of girls would rather see natural photos
• 75 are more likely to buy clothes on real sized
  models (85 African American)

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• The American Psychological Associations report
  on the Sexualization of Girls (2007) describes
  that three of the most common mental health
  problems among girls eating disorders,
  depression, and low self-esteem are linked to the
  sexualization of girls/women in the media.
• The report also shows frequent exposure to
  sexualized media can have negative consequences
  on sexual health and avoidance of sexual risk
  including sexting
• These messages and images of girls impact boys as
  well
• Boys develop unrealistic and unhealthy
  expectations of girls and womens physical
  appearance.

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• Portrayal of women in the media
• Women and girls are underrepresented in
  leadership roles in the media.
• Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media
  reports less than 1 out of 3 speaking roles in
  childrens movies are female.
• 57 of music videos feature women portrayed
  exclusively as a decorative, sexual object.
• Most adds of leadership or success display
  Caucasian women

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• This graph depicts a comparison of over 400 films
  from 1990 - 2006
• Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for
  Communication) Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena Davis
  Institute on Gender in Media) Gender
  Stereotypes An Analysis of Popular Films and TV.
  p. 12-23

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This graph depicts randomly sampled 1,034 shows
from 12 networks (public and cable) to include
534 hours of programming from June 12 and August
18, 2005.

• Disney's portrayal
• Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for
  Communication) Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena Davis
  Institute on Gender in Media) Gender
  Stereotypes An Analysis of Popular Films and TV.
  p. 12-23

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Healthy Media for Youth Act

• Girl Scouts and the American Psychological
  Association worked with Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and
  Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV)
• Focus on improving youths media literacy and
  promoting healthy media messages

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So what does the bill do?

• Due to the alarming side effects of youths
  exposure to negative messages about girls/women
  in the media this bill is urging Congress to
  support efforts to ensure efforts to improve
  youths media literacy skills and youth
  empowerment programs
• Education tools via critical thinking
• Promoting positive depictions of girls/women in
  media
• Countering the perpetuating and damaging effects
  of gender roles/stereotypes
• Funding projects and organizations
• Supporting further research

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Whats being done now?

• Much research is being done to combat these
  issues and get a better grasp of the effects of
  media
• Dove has already begun their real model
  campaign
• Dove Real Beauty

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Discussion

• Do you think this bill can appropriately address
  the problem?
• What can improve it?
• What can we do as pediatricians?

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How do we support the bill?

• Support Healthy Media Images for Girls

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References

• American Psychological Association, Task Force on
  the Sexualization of Girls. (2007). Report of the
  APA Task Force on the Sexualiza- tion of Girls.
  Washington, DC American Psychological
  Association. Retrieved from www.apa.org/pi/wpo/sex
  ualization.html
• Beauty Redefined?Girls and Body Image SurveyGirl
  Scouts of the USA (New York, N.Y. Girl Scouts of
  the USA and The Dove Self-Esteem Fund, 2010)

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• Rrrl Girls. Girls, Sexuality and the Media
  2006.
• Smith, S. L. (Annenberg School for
  Communication) Cook, Crystal A. (The Geena Davis
  Institute on Gender in Media) Gender
  Stereotypes An Analysis of Popular Films and TV.
  p. 12-23
• Victoria J. Rideout, M.A. Ulla G. Foehr, Ph.D.
  and Donald F. Roberts, Ph.D. Generation M2 Media
  in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. 2010.